Virtual Distro Dispatcher: A Light-Weight Desktop-as-a-Service Solution

Utility computing can occur at different levels. Prom Software- as-a-Service (SaaS) paradigm, Desktop-as-a-Service (DaaS) paradigm can be derived: desktops can be transformed into a cost-effective, scalable and comfortable subscription service. In VDD, desktop virtual machines are instantiated on a server and then provided to clients as a whole, on demand, across a network. Since the first release and publication, new features have been implemented and performance improvements achieved. As visualization holds a critical role in the system, research and tests have been done for implementing the best virtualization solution. A comprehensive performance analysis is presented, depicting results that encourage to go on with the research and towards a real-life use. Operational costs analysis showed further economic and ecological advantages. The possibility to project operating systems not natively supporting the Xorg X11 has been introduced, opening the way to the projection of widespread though proprietary operating systems.